More Pictures

The is how far I was 2 weeks ago on the sweater. I'm further now. I'll wait until there is something to actually show before I post more pictures of it:




This is the pila on the roof of my apartment building. It is how locals do laundry, more or less.




This is the side where the piece of laundry goes to be scrubbed.




This part in the middle is where the clean water is dipped from. The drain on the side scrubbing area does not empty back in to here.




This is the clothes line that my landlord put up for me. The only issue that the sun is so bright I hate to use it for very long at a time. The good thing is that it is hot enough here that clothes dry really fast.




This is the back of the apartment building showing the creek that runs next to the building.

Catching up with the pictures

Here are the pictures to go with the previous posts:

In my Traveling Light post I said that I pulled everything out and took pictures to show what I was traveling with in my carry on. Here it is:




Some more detailed shots:




The brown/black top has a matching skirt laying above it, along with the broomstick skirt. Most of the stuff in this picture I ordered from http://magicscarf.com/ . I ordered enough from them to be a wholesaler, and the vast majority of the stuff I have been really happy with. It is light weight, crushable, packable, and fits the climate down here. Your mileage may vary, and while I'm about to send in a second order I am not really interested in jumping the the necessary hoops to actually try to make any money. If you see something you really like, maybe I can give you more information. That's the extent of my 'sales' efforts.




The jeans and polo I wore down on Friday after work. Everything I had with me except the jeans would dry overnight after being washed and hung up in the shower. Jeans are problematical to travel with as they are so comfortable but take up room and don't dry. If I was going on a longer trip I would instead take a second pair of yoga pants to lounge in the room and/or work out in. It's also good to have a slip on in the dark OMG the fire alarm is going off I need to get out of here solution. Yoga pants and a sarong/shawl fit that for me. The sarong is in the baggie and is always with me, so much so I forgot to list it before. It is a towel/beach blanket/swimsuit coverup/extra carrying bag (folded) and just all around thing to have.




My ScotteVest with the 17 or 20 or whatever pockets inside. A bit hot down here, but worth it when I'm out and about in the city. Pretty much the only way I'll carry a camera on me while out down here.

Things I didn't mention that I would also take with me if on a longer trip are my flexible clothesline and my inflatable hangers. I use my inflatable hangers almost every day here as I do my laundry by hand (more or less...) and hang things to dry. Deflated they take no room, weigh nothing, and inflate to useable hangers. I got the idea for them from: http://www.onebag.com/ and I bought them here:
http://www.magellans.com/store/Clothing___Clothing_CareTL102

As for a towel, you can buy the pricy synthetic chamois stuff from Magellans or REI or whatever, but you can also go to the automotive department and get a nice large one for less than $5 (at least the last time I looked) that is not dyed (good for wringing out laundry). Just look for the one to dry off a car.

This post is long enough. I'll do more pictures later on the pila, the in house laundry solution down here.

ps: Forgot the picture of it all packed in the 3 gal ziplocks:

From December, 2006

I had just moved into the house I'm desperately trying to get out of now, in Nashville:

"About a year and a half ago I looked at the ladder of progress I was climbing and realized a few things. First of all, I was not really climbing anymore. I was at a standstill. A post on a message board I hang on talked about how you can't steer a stationery ship, so even a move in the wrong direction is an improvement. I also realized that one reason I was at a standstill was that the ladder was leaning on the wrong wall. It wasn't going anyplace I really wanted to go after all. So, it was time to make a change. I certainly didn't think it would take this long. It was a very deep and comfortable rut I had to blast myself out of. Now that the ship is moving, it is time to start steering it again."

So, over 5 years later I'm still looking for the right wall. But, at least I have some clearer notion of what wall I'm looking to climb. And the places I've steered my ship to and around have been an interesting trip so far.

This is what can happen while copying off an old blog to save.

Weekend

I'm having a nice day at home. I'm making bits and pieces of progress. I am continuing to back up the blogspot blog, back to December of 2006. Another 2 years to go. It's difficult for me to read the stuff from back then. I was so unhappy, and stuck. Always starting over, making plans, and not getting anywhere. How did I ever break out of that? Life now is really easy comparatively. I have laundry caught up for once, not starting the weekend with piles of dirty clothes to deal with. Continuing on with unpacking and wiping out kitchen cabinets. I have most of the body of the sweater done, another couple of inches and I start the armholes. I'll have to start actually looking at the pattern soon.

Who knows, I may even post some of the pictures I've been taking. I also cleaned out my daypack. I'll do a post of what I carry with me on a daily basis, since my Traveling Light post said I had that pack 'with what I normally have with me', which wasn't very enlightening. I also had way too much other stuff in there, it had gotten heavy!

I have reached a bit of a milestone in my quest to use up consumables around here. I finally, after many years, used up all of my stashes of moisturizer. Face stuff, anyway, don't ask me about body lotion... I had a lot of 'free gift' samples and various attempts to get that youthful look, pretty much all of it Lancome as that is all I've used for about 15 years. I finally exhausted it all, and am on a newly bought bottle of the stuff. Now about makeup, which I don't wear, that is another problem. I have a lot of lipsticks and eyeshadow and such stuff. Mostly from those free gifts. I don't wear much at all at any time, and the vast majority of the time I don't wear any. However, pretty much all of it has been used at least once, so it isn't sterile or anything anymore to give away. Well, at least to strangers. I hate to toss it. sigh. The decluttering goes on.

Progress

I am at home this morning, at least for a little while longer. We are going to get my driver's license this morning. Since I live right next to the police station it seems prudent to get legal. 'Acting' dumb only works if they haven't seen me getting into and out of my car for the past few months every day. It's 'we' as our local corporate hand holder is going along to translate. From what I hear, I need a physical along with a picture taken someplace else in order to get the license.

Progress is slow but steady on the hammock, as I promise myself to do at least 2 rows a day on it. I figure around 40 rows left. I did 4 yesterday. I am knitting the sweater the same way, at least 2 rows every day, and yesterday I did 4. Same with washing laundry and ironing. 2 days' worth of laundry every night until I catch up, again. I did some ironing this morning already. I'm also wearing clothes that don't need ironing as much as possible.

So, small steps. I'm hoping at some point I'll get a window of time and energy to build on that progress and make a large leap on some front.

And...

"Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
Another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust"

Third credit card of 4 paid off today. A year and a month after the last one. Geeze, hope this last one doesn't take that long. Plan A is to have that card and the truck paid off by the end of the year.